Iím a manager, and I have to make sure lots of projects are moving forward at once. Some are long term (months), while others are shorter term (days or weeks). And then there are the bazillion things that come in and need same day turn-around.

Hereís the big problem for me: my memory sucks. I will completely forget a project. Luckily, I surround myself with responsible people and I'm usually good at forwarding projects pretty quickly after I get them to the right subject matter expert. So even when I forget about a project, if someone reaches out to get latest status, there has been work done by that expert, and I can just share that (though I often have to scramble to get latest status from that person, which stresses them out because they may be in the middle of a meeting). This is stressing me out and is going to catch up to me one day.

So what do folks use? OneNote is pretty good. I can copy and paste relevant emails and/or documents, add my own quick notes, etc. But I havenít found a good way to keep a timeline for multiple unrelated projects to make sure theyíre all moving forward.

I know this is Management 101 stuff but Iím asking in this subforum for software solutions.

The best solution I can think of is OneNote, with maybe a spreadsheet at the front as sort of a master list of all the initiatives within the OneNote workbook, including dates assigned, due date, etc.

I've used OneNote successfully at times in the past, but then I get into a crunch and stop taking the time to keep it updated. And then it suddenly becomes less useful.

So if somebody has come up with a better, more efficient solution, I'm all ears!

Yep. What I've heard is that you've got to get in the habit of updating it right in the middle of meetings, or right after you hang up the phone, even if it means being a couple of minutes late to your next one. It's hard to commit to that, when I average 7 hours of meetings per day, and very few are ones that I can multitask my way through.

I did that for a few months, and I was a lot more effective. But it caught up with me. It was almost like, "Hey, Egghead seems to be keeping up. He can handle a little more now."

Yep. What I've heard is that you've got to get in the habit of updating it right in the middle of meetings, or right after you hang up the phone, even if it means being a couple of minutes late to your next one. It's hard to commit to that, when I average 7 hours of meetings per day, and very few are ones that I can multitask my way through.

I did that for a few months, and I was a lot more effective. But it caught up with me. It was almost like, "Hey, Egghead seems to be keeping up. He can handle a little more now."

And then a little more becomes a lot more...

I normally right down stuff in a big notebook, and then update onenote at lunch & after work. This way I have two sources of information (the notebook is also far easier to keep current when going to meetings).

I normally right down stuff in a big notebook, and then update onenote at lunch & after work. This way I have two sources of information (the notebook is also far easier to keep current when going to meetings).